Page 4 of A Crane Family New Year

“I’m not worried about his looks,” Chloe said honestly. She’d made a friend in Hopper Fan over the last three months, though this was the first time he’d mentioned kissing her. “I’m not sure I want to shatter the illusion. We’ve shared a lot of personal things on that app.”

Eli grimaced.

“Not photos,” Chloe amended. “Likes, dislikes, art, childhood stories. That sort of thing. We have a special relationship without complicating it.” She wasn’t averse to kissing a man or doing more with him if the need arose. It was the idea of kissing this man, who knew her in an intimate way, that freaked her out.

“Thanks anyway for the dress loan.” Chloe took another quick sip of her coffee. “I should go. I have an exciting day of old movies and laundry ahead of me.”

“I am not letting you spend New Year’s Eve doing laundry and sipping champagne alone.” Isa folded her arms over her breasts in defiance.

“Isa—”

“Reese and Merina are throwing a party at the mansion. Come with us.”

“No, no. I am not crashing your date night. You finally have a night away from sweet baby Aric, and you should enjoy yourself.”

“You won’t stop us from enjoying ourselves,” Eli rumbled. “Come with us.”

“Champagne and caviar.” Isa swept her hand across the room as if painting the picture. “And maybe if you’re lucky, a kiss from an anonymous, handsome stranger at midnight. One who doesn’t know your online persona.”

“No matchmaking,” Eli warned Isa.

“I agree with him. You set me up with three different guys last year and none of them panned out.”

“But—”

“Leave it.” Eli kissed the top of Isa’s head and then leveled his gaze at Chloe. “No midnight kisses required. You’re invited, no strings. We’ll pick you up at eight.”

Chloe touched the dress bag on the chair next to hers. “It really is a beautiful dress.”

“I can’t fit into it since gaining my pregnancy pounds.” Isa shrugged. “It’ll go to waste if you don’t wear it tonight.”

“You look amazing with pregnancy pounds.” Chloe smiled.

“Agree,” came Eli’s approving growl.

Isa shot her husband a saucy grin and then squeezed Chloe’s fingers in hers. “Say yes, Chlo. You deserve a night of fun.”

How could Chloe refuse them? She didn’t particularly want to spend the evening home alone and doing laundry. Plus, she’d never been to Reese and Merina Crane’s mansion on the water.

“She’s thinking about it,” Isa sang.

Chloe sighed. “Okay. Sure. Why not?”

“Yay!” Isa hugged her friend’s neck. Over his wife’s shoulder, Eli nodded his approval.

Chapter Two

Zander’s sister, Jaylyn, propped one black army boot onto the dashboard of his rented Mercedes and retied the laces. When she didn’t move her foot to the floor right away, he scolded her with, “Boot.”

With an eye roll he could feel in the center of his ribcage, she dropped her foot to the floorboard. At least she swiped away any dirt that might’ve transferred to the front of the glove compartment.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” his little sister said with a surprising lack of sarcasm.

He swallowed a smile at Jaylyn’s antics. She was younger than him by eleven years, the unexpected addition to their nontraditional family tree, behind Dante. Each time Zander thought he’d have no more siblings, Dad had announced that his current girlfriend was pregnant with another. The order was: Zander Crane, age thirty-six as of a week ago—on Christmas Day—Brody Crane, age thirty, Dante Crane, twenty-eight, and Jaylyn was twenty-five.

So far, Zander had been the only one of Octavius “O” Crane’s four kids to marry, and he’d done that at the ripe old age of twenty-nine. Brody, Dante, and Jaylyn had been in and out of relationships over the years, none of them having reached the point of “serious.”

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